Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30862878›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2019

Acute sublethal exposure to toxic heavy metals alters honey bee (Apis mellifera) feeding behavior.

Christina M Burden, Mira O Morgan, Kristen R Hladun, Gro V Amdam, John J Trumble, Brian H Smith

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed
9.9field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 109 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Heavy metal pollution from a shooting range revealed by honeybees.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2025
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Environmental pollution effect on honey bees and their derived products: a comprehensive analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2025
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Heavy Metal Concentrations of Beeswax (Apis mellifera L.) at Different Ages.Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology · 2023
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Behavioural regulation of mineral salt intake in honeybees: a self-selection approach.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Trace Elements and Heavy Metal Contents in West Algerian Natural Honey.Journal of analytical methods in chemistry · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Christina M BurdenArizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona, USA. christina.burden@ucollege.edu.
Mira O MorganArizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Kristen R HladunUniversity of California - Riverside, Department of Entomology, Riverside, California, USA.
Gro V AmdamArizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
John J TrumbleUniversity of California - Riverside, Department of Entomology, Riverside, California, USA.
Brian H SmithArizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Arizona State University · USUniversity of California, Riverside · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Heavy metal toxicity is an ecological concern in regions affected by processes like mining, industry, and agriculture. At sufficiently high concentrations, heavy metals are lethal to honey bees, but little is known about how sublethal doses affect honey bees or whether they will consume contaminated food. We investigated whether honey bees reject sucrose solutions contaminated with three heavy metals - cadmium, copper, and lead - as a measure of their ability to detect the metals, and whether ingesting these metals altered the bees' sucrose sensitivity. The metals elicited three different response profiles in honey bees. Cadmium was not rejected in any of the assays, and ingesting cadmium did not alter sucrose sensitivity. Copper was rejected following antennal stimulation, but was readily consumed following proboscis stimulation. Ingestion of copper did not alter sucrose sensitivity. Lead appeared to be palatable at some concentrations and altered the bees' sensitivity to and/or valuation of sucrose following antennal stimulation or ingestion of the metal. These differences likely represent unique mechanisms for detecting each metal and the pathology of toxicity. The bees' ability to detect and consume these toxic metals highlights the risk of exposure to these elements for bees living in or near contaminated environments.

Indexed as

AnimalsArthropod AntennaeBeesDose-Response Relationship, DrugEnvironmental PollutantsFeeding BehaviorHeavy Metal PoisoningMetals, HeavySoilTasteUnited StatesWaterEnvironmental PollutantsMetals, HeavySoilWater

Identifiers

PMID30862878
PMCPMC6414635
OpenAlexW2922041913

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.